Rough (Wolf Ranch 1)

I pulled the tools from my saddle bag and began to repair the break in the fence. It was sweaty, manual work, but it felt good. As I finished, a scent made me pause. I lifted my head, took in the direction of the wind, where it was coming from.

Wolf shifter, but not one I recognized. Not one of the ranch hands or Rob.

And no other wolf should be on our property.

Of course, Rob could’ve held a pack meeting down at the ranch that I didn’t know about.

Except that didn’t make sense. He never would call attention to the pack that way. We always met up at a cabin in the mountains. One where wolves could run without fear of being spotted by humans. While he might think of me as a fuck up, he’d have told me about a meeting.

So if I was catching the scent of a strange shifter here at the fenceline, maybe Markle was right. There was a wolf around. Still, I refused to believe it had taken down any of his cattle. No shifter would do such a thing.

With the repair finished, I put my tools away and headed down the hill. I’d tell Rob about what I’d discovered. Twenty minutes later, I dismounted and led Chesapeake to the stable where I could brush her down.

I didn’t have to go find Rob because he was waiting for me, like he wanted to catch me out of earshot of the rest of the guys.

“I heard you caused a scene with Markle and the doctor last night. What in the hell is going on?” He paced the hard-packed ground.

I took the hat from my head, hooked it over one of the posts. The back of my neck got hot and prickly, and I rubbed it.

“They went out on one date. Didn’t go well. Markle’s been harassing her. Wouldn’t take no for an answer. The guy’s a real asshole.”

Rob’s eyes narrowed. “Well, that’s just not right.”

He didn’t like a guy fucking with a woman any more than I did. He might be a prickly fucker, but he wouldn’t stand for that kind of shit. We stood up for those weaker than us. While Audrey outsmarted the pants off me and could take care of herself, she was smaller than a guy like Markle and an asshole could overpower her easily enough.

“Fine, you protected her. I won’t argue with that. The thing is, I sent you down there to smooth talk the guy and instead you caused more friction.”

I didn’t usually give my brother shit back. Staying away was usually the way I handled myself when it came to dealing with family tension. But today, I had no patience. “Smooth talk? Kinda like you did when he showed up here wanting to organize a wolf hunt?”

Rob took his hat off and slapped it against his leg. He looked down at the ground and seemed to be more pissed about the situation than me. “I know. Hell, the man’s lucky I didn’t shove my boot up his ass. But you got all the charm in the family. You’re supposed to smooth over my social fuckups.”

Huh. Was that actually a compliment? From my big brother? Would wonders ever cease?

“Yeah, well, my charm evaporated pretty quick when I found out he’d been harassing my—” I stopped myself before I said mate. “—doctor.”

Rob nodded. “Can’t blame you for that.”

“Really, ‘cause it kinda seemed like you just did.” As I said, I didn’t usually give Rob shit, especially because he was alpha, but something made me push back today.

Audrey.

She was worth fighting for, even with my brother. I wanted him to know I wasn’t going to take any kind of shit talk about her.

Rob put his hat back on his head and walked out of the barn, shaking his head. When he got to the open doorway, he turned. “All I want to hear is that you’ve fixed it. The problem with the doctor and the problem with our neighbor. Can you do that for me?”

He was looking at me with his usual dark, focused gaze. He wasn’t fucking with me. He was entrusting these pack problems to me. One was my doing, the other bad luck that Markle had bought the property down the road. Rob wanted me to solve them. He wasn’t micromanaging or whatever the fucking term was. Did it mean he trusted me or that I was good at dealing with messes?

I was tempted to refuse because me making nice with Jett Markle wasn’t going to happen now. Not after the line I drew in the sand with him the night before. Especially when Audrey had used me to get him off her back. As if I’d play nice with a guy who was a dick to women.

Instead, I nodded and said, “I’ll do my best.”